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White Night: a survivor's checklist

We've learned a lot covering White Night over the years, so here's our list of must-carry items for those who hope to survive the experience.

Worried about navigating the crowds pouring into Melbourne's CBD on Saturday for White Night, the city's fourth annual all-night arts party? Then don't be the early bird: the best way to avoid them is to get there at 4am.

The event, which kicks off at 7pm this Saturday night and finishes at 7am on Sunday morning, has drawn crowds averaging half a million.

This year's White Night numbers should be no different, says artistic director Andrew Walsh, although organisers are now a bit more savvy about exactly where the people will congregate, and when. "We've learnt about where those crowds gather," says Walsh.

"We know there's nothing we can do about it in terms of numbers, so we have to try to manage the flow."

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If you are a little crowd-shy, you might want to go to bed early and set your alarm – a lot of excitable city-explorers have dropped off by around 4am. "It's quieter – not substantially quieter – but quieter at the early hours of the morning," says Walsh, who has pulled all-nighters at all three events to date.

"But I think that's the most beautiful time actually, and leading up to sunrise. The sunrise last year was just breathtaking."

Numbers thin out later in the morning, around 4am. Photo: Paul Jeffers

There are hotspots, where crowds are simply unavoidable. "Flinders Street Station is the major arrival gateway," says Walsh. "We get lots of people coming out of Flinders Street, it's the point where most people want to cross the river."

When trying to get from one end of town to another, it generally pays to take the (slightly) less busy Elizabeth and Russell streets instead of Swanston Street.

The first White Night in 2013 featured a music stage on the steps of Flinders Street Station, and last year Flinders Street was awash with technicolour projections illuminating its buildings, causing many to stop and ogle.

"It was gorgeous but it was crowded," says Walsh. "So we've learnt not to put anything in that intersection at all, and no projections on Flinders Street."

The two main music stages this year will be on Lonsdale Street and in Alexandra Gardens, and the Flinders Street projections have been limited to the facade of St Paul's Cathedral and Federation Square.

Attractions have been shifted away from Swanston Street, which now acts as the "promenade" or "spine", with focal points spread out among the surrounding streets and gardens.

Glow-in-the-dark ice-cream GloCones from 196Below, one of a number of food stalls that will be open around the city for White Night. Photo: Ellen Dewar

The City of Melbourne's website displays its Pedestrian Counting System revealing where the crowds peaked during White Night last year.

Predictably, there was a steady surge of visitors to the city between 7pm and 11pm, but from 12am onwards on Sunday, the number of pedestrians in the CBD began to fall.

The figures show that the area around Birrarung Marr and Federation Square as the main choke points, with more than 10,000 in the area at peak hour – 11pm. Other hot spots around that time included Princes Bridge (6600), City Square (8200) and Melbourne Central (4100).

"10pm to 11pm is the busiest time of the night, some of the shows are finishing and people are coming out of them, people are finishing dinner," says Walsh.

A Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation spokeswoman said it had received 36 applications from existing licensees to extend trading hours for White Night. Licensing requirements have changed for the event this year and restaurants and bars looking to stay open beyond their normal opening hours had to apply for a slightly more expensive major event license rather than a temporary permit.

At the end of the day, as Walsh says, White Night is essentially about "hanging out with the rest of Melbourne."

"It's a 12-hour event, you don't need to turn up at 7[pm], turning up in the middle of the night is as good a thing to do as turning up as the beginning or the end, and that's the joy of it really."